Why is it that I can read through something 12 times and still find mistakes?
Do the rest of you have problems like these with editing? I find that no matter how many times I read through our work, I find problems. Obviously, I correct those issues, let it sit for some time and read again. Then, Suddenly as if spawned from the ashes of the old mistakes, more arise.
It is really annoying.
Is there anything special that you do, that maybe the rest of us don't? Because, at this point, the M.A team is on the list of people that pull their hair out from edits.
If you're talking about line editing, I do have one tip. In revision, when I'm finally done with sweeping, big picture stuff, and I have to check for errors and sentence structure and so forth, I go backwards.
ReplyDeleteI start from the last page and work backwards, sentence by sentence, toward the beginning. This helps me ignore story elements like mood, pacing, tension, character arc and all that stuff I can't avoid thinking about when I'm reading forwards. Then I can focus on sentence structure, rhythm, grammar, punctuation and all those boring details.
It might not be perfect, but it helps me.
I like that one. Thanks Matt.
ReplyDelete